Superheroes riding a Marvel-ous wave at the box office

5:18 AM,
Apr. 16, 2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel

Written by

Scott Bowles and Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

There was a time, legend has it, when only two men seemed suited to police the planet. Or at least Hollywood's world.

Lantern-jawed, darkly handsome and fond of the American way of life, Superman and Batman had much in common despite hailing from different planets. Both were born in the 1930s, dominated theaters and television and even shared a New York mailing address: the headquarters of DC Comics.

But in 2000, a new strain of hero - a mutant strain - entered the big-screen spandex fray. X-Men, about an academy for social outcasts with superpowers, collected an astounding $157 million at the ...